Another Ingenious Novice
by Zinbuki-san
Summary: Hinata has been assigned a solo mission and things aren't looking good. The poor girl is stuck keeping constant eye on a testosterone-driven shinobi. The worst part? She'll never look at Shino the same way again. --Inspired by Bya-chan's Ingenious Novice
1. The Mission

_Heeeey aaaaaall! Sorry for my updating, or rather, lack thereof. I recently got highspeed, 'cause I go to college now, and since then I've spent no time here on . is more of a "I'm stuck with dial-up what am I gonna doooo" sort of thing, like when I'm home on the weekends. But I did take a peek around the other day, and drifted back over to VerbotenByacolate's page, whose stuff I haven't kept up with AT ALL (I'msosorryomg). And there I read an interesting little fanfic she's started called **The Ingenious Novice**, and I implore you all to read that one before you start off on mine. It's NejiTen, so it's already better than mine here, for starters. As well, mine here is sort of... a spin off of hers. Watching a spinoff before reading the original is like being a pairing fangirl but not knowing who the characters are. Tccch. So go read hers, then come back here! I COMMAND IT! -cackles madly-_

_Kishimoto is the badass man that owns all these pwnsome people you'll find in the content below. Buhleive me, if I owned them, it'd be like **Basilisk** and everyone would have been dead in beautifuly gory ways by episode 24. (...which episode is that one in Naruto, anyways? Hmmm...)_

_And, of course, the idea/plot of this fic belongs to VerbotenByacolate. Because she's Bya-chan. and she's amazing._

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**Another Ingenious Novice  
**_Inspired by VerbotenByacolate's "The Ingenious Novice"_

"Hyuuga Hinata... you're early," the fifth hokage said with the faintest trace of irritation in her voice. Before the chuunin could say anything, however, Shizune shot Tsunade a glare. The sannin sighed in resignation, getting down to business. "We've got a mission for you, and a rather important one at that..." Tsunade began ruffling through the stack of files on her desk, in an almost nervous manner. Something seemed off; it was as though Godaime Hokage was avoiding telling her something. Hinata realized this was probably a mission that she wasn't going to enjoy.

"Tsunade-sama, what... what is it?" she asked with uncertainty.

The hokage paused. For a fleeting moment, she shared a quick glance with Shizune. Silence ensued, but only for a moment. "Dammit Shizune, do we have to put her on this mission alone?"

"A... alone? Can't Kiba-kun, Akamaru and Shino-kun come with me?" the black-haired girl asked with uncertainty. She shifted her weight from foot to foot a little nervously.

Tsunade twitched, but Shizune ignored Hinata. "We **must**, Tsunade-sama. Sakura-san's already away on a mission, Team Ten just left, and Tenten-san's already got her hands full with Neji-san. And heaven forbid we make Naruto-kun or Sai-kun do this one!" ...That's right, Tenten had arrived at the Hyuuga complex this morning. Hinata remembered greeting her in passing as the older kunoichi stalked off to find Hiashi-sama. Hinata's curiosity about the mission grew. She was partly curious as to why no one answered her question about her team helping her, but she figured she would find out soon enough.

Tsunade's eye twitched again, and she sighed. "Alright, alright. Hinata-san, I'll say this as quickly and as painlessly as possible."

The hokage closed her eyes, putting on her infamous business face. She propped her elbows onto her desk, hiding her mouth behind her folded hands. Hinata tugged nervously at the hem of her lilac-coloured jacket. Tsunade began her rundown of the mission. "This past Monday, there was a slight mix-up at the hospital. One of the new interns made a mix up, and instead of administering some flu-shots, a certain number of patients received Alpha-Lipoic acid."

Hinata listened intently, unsure of where this was going. Her clasped hands fidgeted with eachother as her brow furrowed slightly.

Tsunade's brown eyes slipped open, regarding the kunoichi coolly. "Don't worry, it's not anything too serious. It's just a testosterone stimulant – " Hinata blushed, " – and the effects are all potentially harmless. It's a new product, and since the labels on it and the flu shot are so similar looking it was an easy mistake. ...not to say I didn't ream the bastard out, though..." she trailed off, muttering darkly. She, obviously, was in a terrible mood.

Hinata waited patiently for a few moments, but it seemed that Tsunade was a little too deeply involved in being a miserable person to notice. So, Hinata took the initiative to find out about her mission. "So... ano... what is it you want me to d-do, Hokage-sama?" she had stuttered; darn it. She had tried hard to stay calm. But if her mission had anything to do with some faceless testosterone-driven men, she wasn't going to feel comfortable about this at all. And that was why she had stuttered.

Tsunade sighed again, sitting back in her large desk chair, resting her hands on the edge of her desk. "Among the group that accidentally received the Alpha-Lipoic acid was a shinobi of a certain degree of importance. Hyuuga Hinata, it is your mission to keep constant watch on him. You will be keeping an eye on his actions and checking for potential side-effects... generally, just make sure he doesn't get too carried away with anything, alright? Oh, and he can't find out about the mix-up, so no matter what happens, **do not** tell him about the acid."

"W-what kind of s-side-effects?" ...she really wasn't liking the sound of this mission. Her stomach was all twisted just thinking about it; having to actually do this mission would probably be the death of the poor girl. She somehow managed to remain standing tall and rigid, despite the fact she just wanted to slump over and hide away from the world right now. The slightest hue of pink graced her face.

Tsunade smirked. Well, as bad as she felt about dumping this next part on poor li'l Hinata, the sadistic side of her wanted to see what kind of reaction she'd get. "Oh, you know, the usual high-testosterone things. Morning erections and the likes..." She smirked.

Hinata bit the inside of her lip, fighting back a whimper. Her face turned beet red. Shizune glared at Tsunade, and took over before the hokage could torture the girl any more.

"Don't worry Hinata-san, the effects likely won't take full effect for a day or two, and even then, your mission is just until it's out of his body. And besides, he's a trained shinobi, so he might be able to fight some of the... ano... effects..." – she really meant to say "urges" – "...It shouldn't be too long, right Tsunade-sama?"

Tsunade snorted. "Don't lie to the girl, Shizune. It was a powerful dosage. Even **he** is going to have trouble controlling himself. But I have faith in you, Hinata-san, you're a tough girl. You can fend for yourself, I'm sure."

Hinata felt really, really sick right now. Her face was way too warm and her poor insides were writhing in agony. Why, o why, did Tsunade have to be so bland about it? She groaned slightly, biting the inside of her lip harder. She released when the pain was just a bit too much. The sooner she got this mission done the sooner it would all be behind her – she would not decline a mission, not when her father was expecting her to be a failure – so she stammered out the one last thing she needed to know.

"W-who is it? Who's... who's the shinobi?"

Neither answered for what felt like forever. (In reality, it was probably only a few seconds.)

Her face becoming grim and serious again, the blonde sannin finally took the initiative. Hinata's fast-beating heart nearly stopped.

"Aburame Shino."

_Review, bitches! O_

_PS if you haven't yet go read Bya-chan's fic of a similar title. THIS WAS INSPIRED BY HEEEERS. Which is way better than miiiine. Liek, eberz._

_But yes, review because I'll be lazy and you won't get any moar chapturs if I dun get feedback. authors eat reviews for breakfast, and wihtout reviews, we have no nutrition to write! FEED ME! (I don't even care if it's a "you suck!"... I mean, at least you read it. ...right?)_


	2. The Beginning

_Good morning, sunhii~iiiines! Oh ho ho, what's this, I'm actually not being lazy and updating something?! I'm actually making an attempt to finish what I started?! AMAII~ZIING! ...But seriously, don't thank me, thank **Verboten Byacolate**, who convinced my lazy ass to continue with my spinoff of her fanfic. Harr harr harr. So here she is, the next installment of **Another Ingenious Novice**! ...That's what I called this fanfic, right? Crap, I don't remember. Uwaaah! But regardless, here's part twooo!_

_And as an even happier note, this chapter has Shino-papa in it! Yaaaaay Shibi! I almost lerve him more than I lerve Shino, hurrhurrhurr. The Aburame Clan is just so damn amazing 3_

_**Naruto**, oh, **Naruto**, why dos't thou evade my greedy clutches? If only I were t'own the likes of thineself, thine beautiful self... but alas, I do not, oh woe, woe!_

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Although Hinata would have proudly claimed this was the worst (or at least, hardest) day of her life, she knew it would be a lie. Essentially, she had been through worse. But for the time being, this was possibly the most emotionally scaring thing that could have possibly happened. This mission was not going to be easy, she would have to tread carefully here. She needed to keep an eye on Shino, but she had to do so carefully. So many things could go so terribly wrong, and that was what scared her most.

She stopped her disdainful thoughts about the same time she had stopped walking. She found herself facing the side of the Aburame compound. A wall ran around the property making it impossible to see anything but the roof from the ground. She sucked in a slow, deep breath. She could still feel her face burning. She had half a mind to run and never face Shino again (even though he didn't even know about the mix-up, let alone her mission), but the other half of her mind kept giving her mental slaps. These mental slaps pained her so, reminding her that if she just ran who knew what would happen to Shino. That, and her father would look down upon her even more for running away from a mission that was, fundamentally, easy.

She found that her hands were fidgeting. Her pale eyes scanned the street in resignation. Well, standing here and getting herself in more a panic would do no good.

'_You can do this. Just take it one step at a time. Right now your mission is to walk around to the front.'_ She managed to calm herself down with that thought. Over the years, the Hyuuga had found that if she broke down big, terrifying situations into smaller portions and took them one at a time, she could manage to find her way through them, and it didn't seem so daunting.

This mission still scared the crap out of her, though. But at least her baby-steps method let her focus on smaller tasks, and not the fact that Shino was...

She squeaked and flinched, throwing her hands over her beet-red face. '_Don't think those thoughts Hinata! One step at a time, one step at a time...'_ She tried to push Shino from her mind (which was hard, considering she was pretty much on his door step).

She soon found her feet were moving mysteriously on their own accord, but hey, she wasn't going to complain. They were bringing her down the short stretch of this street left. When they got to the intersection, the hung a right and a few meters later they stopped right by the front gate. She made a note to thank her feet later, for doing what she considered impossible.

The gate was open, as it usually was. She took a deep breath before progressing down the gravel chip path that lead to the front door. Gardens lined the inside of the wall and trailed around the house. The informal but well planned landscaping brought a certain serenity to the area that calmed her. Though colourful, the various annuals and perennials and flowering shrubs and trees did not over power the senses; it wasn't brilliant to look at, nor was it dull. It had a nice, natural look and feel to it.

Hinata's thoughts came to a halt about the same time she stubbed her toe on the front step. She flinched, jumping back a half a step. "Itai!" she gasped softly, even though it didn't hurt. This did, however, cause her mind to snap back to reality. She was at the Aburame compound, about to knock on the door, and ask for a testosterone-driven teenaged boy so she could babysit him for whoknowshowlong until he didn't feel attracted to everything that moved anymore. ...Alas, her nervousness returned.

'_Knock. Just knock. A few taps on the door. That's your mission right now.'_

For what felt like the millionth time this trip, Hinata sucked in a slow, deep breath, hoping it would stop her knees from shaking and her face from flushing. She didn't bother dwelling on if it worked or not – she was much more focused on the task at hand. Her purple-sleeved arm slowly raised.

_Tap, tap, tap._

A silence that dragged on far too long ensued. So she tried again, but this time she knocked harder (and by that it is meant that she actually knocked).

_Knock, knock, knock._

The silence this time was much, much shorter, but somehow it still felt like an eternity. The door swung inwards steadily and the long-haired kunoichi found herself facing a rather tall man with dark, dark sunglasses and a nest of wild brown hair.

"Hinata-san," the deep baritone voice greeted. It was Aburame Shibi that had come to the door; Shino's father. He stood stalk-still, his usually scruffy face hidden well behind a high collared jacket. It was in moments like these that Hinata remembered a saying she had once heard – the apple didn't fall too far from the tree. It was easy to see who raised her team mate.

"O-ohayo. A-ano..." her voice cracked.

"What is it, Hinata-san? Are you here to train with Shino?"

On impulse she nodded. ...Oops. Ah well, she was far too nervous to correct herself, so she said and did nothing else.

"I'm sorry, Hinata-san. Shino isn't in right now. Shall I send him out to find you when he returns?"

Part of her was terribly relived, but, like always, the other part was feeling the complete opposite; fear. Shino was gone, which meant she wouldn't have to face him just yet. The fear came from another part of her mission that she was meant to complete. She had to explain the situation to Shibi – that was her current mission. She felt a new wave of heat wash over her face. Either her last blushing fit had receded prior to this or it was somehow getting worse.

She tried to tell Shibi she needed to speak with him, but alas, her sentence was quiet, cracking, and generally garbled. The patient man continued to stand there like a tree (A/N: Reference to the amazingness of which is Link and Luigi), and his calm demeanour must have permeated into herself somewhat, because after a quick pause to shut up and try again, her attempt at conversation seemed much more effective. She said to him, "I... I need to talk to you regarding Shino-kun."

She saw one of his eyebrows raise slowly. It was rare to get this much of a reaction out of an Aburame – he was obviously intrigued by this interesting twist of events. He stepped back and ushered the young woman silently inside.

This was going to be awkward, Hinata knew, but it was her current mission, and it had to be done. It was essential to the rest of the mission, it was a crucial step in her survival. Yes, yes, she honestly believed she would die if anything went wrong on this dire mission. And who knew? It was quite plausible, in a way. So she had to do this right. She would finish this step of explaining her mission to Shibi. She found some comfort in his personality. He wouldn't over react, he wouldn't tease, he wouldn't even scorn. She was suddenly very thankful for this stoic streak that seemed to be hereditary. It would be like talking to a wall, only slightly more mentally stable-feeling, because he was actually something that had the potential to speak back. Maybe... this part wouldn't be as hard she was fretting. And hopefully, really, really hopefully, neither would the rest of this cruel endeavour.

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_Thankyooou for reading! And at least think about reviewing, plzkthnx? Flames welcome, no seriously, I love flames :D so pretty and warm~_

_Also, don't forget to scootch on over to Bya-chan's profile and check out the original **Ingenious Novice** because it's way cooler than this.  
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_And Bya-chan, I added a chapter onto mine, so you should add one onto yours! -winkwink, nudgenudge-  
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